Tshepang Phohole received a 5.7 million rands (128 million naira)
payout from the UIF which was supposed to go to 1,400 workers for
lockdown relief. Instead, he and his family allegedly defrauded the
state and went on a massive spending spree. The UIF payment was
originally meant to go to CSG Resources, a labour brokerage company, but
instead, the funds landed up in Phohole's account.
Thobile Lamati, the director-general of the labour department
informed parliament's standing committee on public accounts on Friday
that Phohole created a new profile as an employer using CSG's UIF number
and entered his own banking details into the system. "When the company
tried to access the system, they were blocked. They then requested a new
password and were given access. They uploaded their employees, but
overlooked the changed banking details," he said.
On the day that the money was paid into Phohole's account, he
transferred the money into a number of different ones according to court
documents. R1-million to his father Godfrey Mojela, R980 000 to his
sister Itumeleng Masoko, R2.3-million to his brother-in-law Tebogo
Masoko and R1.25-million to Taetso Zulu. The following 2 days saw the
money being exchanged between the accounts. This was an attempt to
obfuscate the source of the funds and confuse investigators.
Court papers reveal that the family used the funds to buy new tombstones for late family members and to renovate a cafe.
His mother, Meisie Mojela, described him as a "good boy" who was
caring and compassionate - and who had never before found himself on the
wrong side of the law.
Reported by Briefly
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